fishers of men – The Noontimes

John 21:11: Spiritual Stamina

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Spiritual Stamina

We spent Easter Week reflecting on the 21^st Chapter of John’s Gospel and the implications it has for our modern lives. The Resurrected Christ appears to the disheartened apostles who have returned to their nets and the sea in their confusion after the events in Jerusalem during their Passover time. Christ had returned to the Upper Room where they had all shared that last meal before Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, and Jesus’ faithful followers – much like us – rejoiced with Christ’s revelation of himself. Now they feel a bit empty and flat when little in their lives appears to have changed significantly or for the better in any way at all. And so they go back to what they know . . . and their world changes irreparably when Christ appears again on the shore of the sea.

The apostles sling their nets over the water another time as the man on the shore asks and although they have been casting for hours and have caught nothing . . . the nets come up full to bursting. And miraculously even though there were so many fish, the net does not break.

During Eastertide we have explored the burdens and rewards of discipleship. We have examined the costs and the benefits of following Christ. We have evaluated the requirements and gifts of living as disciples and we have sometimes found that we have no stomach and little energy to persist in the journey. We hunger, we thirst, we ache, we tire, we stagger and flag under our perceived burden and yet . . . we return each morning to our Sisyphean task. Despite our exhaustion, deep within we know that Christ continues to sustain. We know that he fills our nets daily. And we see that the nets have not torn. This is, indeed, a marvelous God.

Paul understands this condition of amazed exhaustion when he writes to the Romans – and to us: We even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Today, as we celebrate the real presence of Christ among us we turn to this intimate friend and brother who knows us so well, and we place all our worries and delights, all our anxieties and joys, all our fears and celebrations in his able arms. We fall into this threefold God who protects, saves and sustains, and we pray . . .

Dearest and most precious God present in us,

Although we tire we are not beaten, so living in the life of Christ, we rejoice in our exhaustion. You have filled our nets again and we know that we cannot pull them from the sea without you.

Although we lack so much we are not lost, so living in the life of the Spirit, we celebrate our poverty. You have given us all the resources we will ever need and we know that we cannot discern them without you.

Although we have no stamina we find ourselves rising to new mornings, and living in the goodness of God, and so we praise you. We find ourselves each day with grateful hearts and we know that we cannot live without you.

Remind us that although our nets are full . . . they will never tear. Although our limbs are weary . . . they will never fail. Although our hearts are broken . . . they will never be empty. Amen.

A re-post from June 2, 2013.

June 2, 2020

amazed exhaustion, discipleship, endurance, fishers of men, hope, Romans 5:3-5, stamina, Trinity

John 21:3: We also will come with you . . .

Easter Wednesday, April 15, 2020

John 21:3

We also will come with you . . .

We are just a few days away from our Easter experience and yet how often do we think of its impact on our lives? We also will come with you . . .

We are only a handful of quick days away from our entering into the empty tomb and yet how much does the resurrection influence our words and actions? We also will come with you . . .

We are only a split-second in God’s time away from the resurrection and yet how eager are we to cast heavy nets into disappointing waters? We also will come with you . . .

Jesus has visited his followers on several occasions after his resurrection and now he calls the faithful to Galilee to be fishers of men. We also will come with you . . .

Peter says that he is returning to the boats and nets they knew so well before the Christ came into their lives in such a vivid and startling way and the other apostles tell him: We also will come with you . . .

The Easter promise of life in Christ has been fulfilled and now the option is ours. We also will come with you . . .

Our emptiness is fullness in the Spirit and now we might choose to say: We also will come with you . . .

Our suffering is joy in the economy of God’s way and so now we say: We also will come with you . . .

Our insecurities become strength when we remember the Easter promise and so now we pray: We also will come with you . . .

Our fear and anxieties become trust and confidence when we live as Children of God and so now we pray: We also will come with you . . .

Our loss becomes love when we live as Easter people and so now we pray: We also will come with you . . .

We join all God’s holy ones in the events of the Eastertide so as we come together let us intone with one another the words of Jesus’ first followers . . . We also will come with you!

Tomorrow, Sharing in the Desert . . .

A re-post from Easter 2013.

Image from: http://danieljclark.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/fishing-stories-sermon-from-epiphany-5-luke-5111.html

April 15, 2020

Easter People, fishers of men, mourning into joy, Peter

Luke 5:1-11: Coming Up With Nothing

Easter Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Luke 5:1-11

Coming Up With Nothing

In Luke’s description of the calling of the apostles, we find the crowds pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God. There are boats by the lake side and as Jesus steps into one of them he asks the fisherman, Peter, to put out into the water. There, a short distance away, he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he finishes speaking, he asks Peter to put out in to deeper water in order to fish. Peter replies: Master, we have worked hard all night and have come up with nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets. They catch a great number of fish, so many that the nets begin to tear. Peter calls to his partners who come alongside to help them take in the catch. There are so many fish that they were in danger of sinking. Peter, James and John realize in that instant that the Messiah stands before them and also in that moment Jesus says to them – and to us: Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. And when they came ashore . . . they left everything and followed him.

Last week we closely examined the interchange between the risen Christ and his bewildered followers; today we look at Luke’s description of the apostles’ original call and find a foreshadowing of that later exchange and reunion beside the sea. Perhaps it was this memory that called Peter and the others back to their nets and boats. This we will never know; but what we do know is that Christ speaks and calls to us in the same way – especially when we are weary from having worked so hard for so long only to have our nets come up so empty.

This startling story is more than the words we see before us; it is an invitation to a full and fruitful life in the Spirit. This familiar recounting is more than verses brought together by a writer two thousand years ago; it is an open door to salvation. This Gospel is more than a sacred scripture; it is a guarantee from the risen Christ that when we find ourselves empty, alone, bewildered, overcome, bereft or betrayed that the best and most able of shepherds is with us as we steer our tiny vessel.

And so we pray to Jesus who first stepped into the boats of exhausted fishermen to transform them into fishers for the kingdom . . .

When we are terrified by all that surrounds us as we confront the pandemic and move forward in fear, live in us as we answer your call.

When we are physically, emotionally and psychologically weary, be with us are you were with your loved and loving followers in your days on the Sea of Tiberias.

When we have come up with nothing, have seen our life’s work erased, have exhausted every bit of our creativity and energy, be with us are you were with those you touched and healed in Galilee.

When we leave everything to follow you, sacrificing comfort and ease, be with us as you were with the faithful who returned to you and gave all they had and all they were in order to be close to you.

When we are empty, when we are full, when we are exhausted, when we are filled with the Spirit, when we leave all that we know to trust your call, keep us close, keep us constant, keep us in your love. Amen.

Tomorrow, “We also will come with you . . . “

For a devotional on this same citation, click the image above or go to: http://goodfaithblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/luke-51-11-bible-study-devotion-what.html

April 14, 2020

casting nets, fishers of men, James, John, Peter

John 21:1-14: Leaping from the Boat

Holy Thursday, April 9, 2030

John 21:1-14

Leaping from the Boat

Continued from yesterday’s posting . . .

So they cast the net and they were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish . . . It is in that moment that John turns to Peter and says with quiet, unwavering certainty, “It is the Lord”.

Peter leaps into the water, the others pull the boat to the waterline, all rushing toward the man who stands by a charcoal fire on which fish are roasting and bread is waiting.

That voice that has called us so often for so long. Why did we not recognized it at first? Were we so tired and so consumed with our own worries that our hearts did not hear that voice we thought we would never forget? And now that we stand here before the Teacher, do we admit that we doubted? Do we tell him how much we worried? Do we say that we thought he had gone for good despite his promise to never abandon us? Of course, he already knows our questions and our misgivings . . . he knows all. But might we say these words aloud all the same?

While we hesitate, Jesus invites. He has no need of the fish in the heavy net and yet he says, calling us to share with him, “Bring some of the fish you just caught. Come and have breakfast”. John records that none of them dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.

And so, as the sun rises over the sea and a new day begins, we sit once again at the table of the gift of sustenance and self that Jesus so willingly, openly and lovingly gives. We return to what is now our new “old life”. We return to follow the Teacher. He has told us that we would be fishers of men and still we thought that our old occupation of pulling fish from the sea was more reliable work. Perhaps we knew all along that this would be our last casting on the sea. Perhaps we wanted to return one last time to the old memory that has now spawned new futures. Perhaps . . . but now in our leaping from the boat we have made an irrevocable step. We have decided to follow where the Teacher will lead.

As we continue our journey as Easter People, tomorrow, a prayer by the Sea of Tiberias . . .

A re-post from Easter Week 2013.

April 9, 2020

casting nets, fishers of men, kingdom-building

Tag: fishers of men

John 21:11: Spiritual Stamina

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John 21:3: We also will come with you . . .

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Luke 5:1-11: Coming Up With Nothing

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John 21:1-14: Leaping from the Boat

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